Christian leadership is the art of being a good steward of the people who God has entrusted to us. Developing leadership skills is developing the art of good stewardship. A central idea in the Kingdom parable of the talents (Matthew 25:10-30) is the expectation that God given resources are to be used and multiplied. However, he was not at all …
Jesus Leadership Style: Ten Perspectives for Christian Leaders
The Challenge of Jesus’ Leadership Style As with most things, Jesus turned leadership upside down. He taught the disciples that in the Kingdom they were not to lead people as those in the world did; they were to be radically different. The leadership style that Jesus taught and modelled was neither about command and control, nor status and power. He …
Christian Leadership – Three Things Jesus Had to Say About It
Leadership is in vogue but what would Jesus have to say about Christian leadership today? In his life, Jesus turned the world upside down and he taught the disciples to live and serve the Kingdom of God in that upside down way. This applied to leadership as much as anything else. He taught and modelled Kingdom leadership to his disciples …
Growing the Servant Heart
[KGVID poster=”http://christian-leadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/OA-2786-VI-02-150219-GTSH-Introduction_thumb0.jpg” width=”300″ height=”168″]http://christian-leadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/OA-2786-VI-02-150219-GTSH-Introduction.mp4[/KGVID] Growing the Servant Heart encourages the growth of a Christ-centred character for leaders and goes on to recommend practical approaches to help them live this out in day-to-day leadership situations. The tools have been chosen because they enable Christians who are leaders to put into practice the character and attitude that Jesus taught and modelled. …
The Nature of the Servant Leader Modelled on Jesus
The servant leader focuses on inspiring and enabling people to achieve their full potential, in pursuit of a shared and common purpose. For the servant leader it’s not about status and control but they enable and empower their people, growing them to be servant leaders too. The Christ-centred servant leader grows a Christ-like character modelled on the Servant King and sees Jesus as their leadership role model.
Christian Leadership Turned Upside-down
Jesus explicitly challenged the prevailing views of leadership with his disciples and he turned the “normal” upside down. He confronted the disciples views of power and authority, telling them it was not to be that way for them (Matthew 20). In the famous foot washing incident, as the king with a towel tied round his waist (John 13), he established the Kingdom principle of humility and the pre-eminence of others instead of self and challenged the disciples to follow his example. In these two events he showed that leadership in the Kingdom is no longer to be as leadership is in the world.
The Servant Leader as Gardener: Artificial Flowers may be Beautiful but…
The servant leader must develop himself as a leader and as a servant so that together both he and his people can flourish and achieve their full potential in the service of a common, higher purpose.
The Servant Leader as Gardener: Without Change There’s No Growth
This article focuses on some key realities about the growth of people and the Christian servant leader’s role in its facilitation. First it’s the recognition that growth in organizations is as dependent upon God as is growth in a garden. However, growth needs to be fostered; it requires sufficient room for the individual to grow but excessive growth on the part of one can constrain and deprive another. Even then the difficult process of “pruning” is required to help shape and direct people, increasing their fruitfulness. But perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of growth is change. This is inevitable.
The Servant Leader as Gardener: Grass Doesn’t Grow Faster If You Pull It
In many aspects, the task of the gardener in a garden is similar to the task of the Christian servant leader modelled on Jesus Both will study the environment, define a specific purpose, prepare a place that is conducive for growth, get the right plants/people in to be able to fulfil the purpose, and tend to the individual plants/people to help them grow and bear fruit. A garden is made up of single plants and much additional insight can be gained from considering the role of a single plant – or even parts of a plant – in the garden, and applying those insights to the role of a leader in an organization.
Jesus: The Role Model for Christian Leadership
There is a lot that is said and written about Christian leadership. Much of it is not actually about leadership at all, but is focused on theological, expositional, hermeneutical, worship facilitation and communications skills. It’s also sad to say that Christian leadership today seems frequently to get confused with the modern concept of celebrity. Where consideration is given to the vital skills of people and organizational leadership, the Christian world so often seems to call upon secular, worldly models, passing over the one role model who should be in focus – Jesus Christ.